California 33rd District Race: Elan Carr versus Ted Lieu. An interesting outcome here in a district that is comprised of Rancho Palos Verdes, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica, and other areas where entertainers live, is that the two most popular candidates are the ones that had no noted big Hollywood names behind them.
(UPDATE: The tally had Elan Carr at 24 percent, Ted Lieu at 20 percent, and Hollywood favorite Wendy Gruel at 18 percent as of 11 PM last night. But as of now with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Ted Lieu is closing the gap with Carr: Carr dropped to 21.5 percent, where Lieu went up to 19 percent, while Gruel fell to 16.8 percent.)
The California 33rd District Race to replace the retiring legend that was Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) has come down to two basic, no-nonsense government men, one Jewish, the other Asian, who are known for solid work in their respective positions.
First-time Republican and LA Deputy District Attorney Elan Carr and Democratic California State Senator Ted Lieu beat back a large number of candidates who had the backing of Hollywood stars like Leonard Nimoy, Ryan O’Neal, Elisabeth Shue, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ari Emanuel, Sherry Lansing and Candy Spelling, Melanie Griffith, Eva Longoria, Holly Robinson Peete and Lily Tomlin.
Going into the race, it looked like Ted Lieu would have the best chance to win because he was racking up the base-hits of key endorsements, none better than by the Democratic Party itself. Plus, as of April 15th, he had over $621,762 in donations.
But Attorney David Kanuth, who had the support of Gwyneth Paltrow, had $798,453 in donations, and by that time topped the fundraising list. Carr wasn’t even in the top five in money by tax day. Yet, he’s miles ahead of even the second place challenger in this open primary system, Ted Lieu.
Why?
Well, first, and this is the real reason for me, Elan Carr was reportedly the first one out with television ads. According to the blog Schaper’s Corner, Carr started out in a quest to make people know his name early, and the best way to do that is via television. But to find out that no other Democratic candidate had even one television add to counter Carr’s at the time (April 22nd) is just plain shocking news.
And all that was at the time when Wendy Greuel was leading in polling, and getting into a print-based war of words with Marianne Williamson, who pushed herself as an independent, and not a Democrat. But, as I try to tell anyone running, people watch, not read things today. Television rules.
Sometime else Carr did, but now can’t hide from, is not mention that he’s a Republican. That went a long way in helping to brand him as the tough, practical, every-person’s candidate. Some might add that that he’s also, like Henry Waxman, openly proud of his “strong Jewish identity” and in a district that is heavily so, but look, Wendy Greuel and Marianne Williamson are Jewish, too, so I can’t see how Carr has an advantage there.
Basically, of the 16 candidates, the difference was television and party. Carr took that TV bull by the horns and never let go. His challengers failed to keep pace, and the difference showed at the polls. Carr’s the only Republican, true, but since he didn’t push that part of who he is, and an open primary helps diminish its importance, the deputy top cop could focus on his key message of more jobs and less crime.
Always a winning ticket in politics.
Question is, does Ted Lieu have a chance? If he can push his experience at getting things done in government elected politics, and then fuse the disparate Hollywood political players who were backing so many different candidates, then yes. But he’s also got to work television and hard.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll